Did not know this book was younger YA. I still enjoyed it, but I was a little confused on how the cover relates to the book

A really great read, full of some really loveable characters!! Would highly recommend this for anyone looking to get into the fall spirit with a compelling, action-packed Rapunzel retelling <3

I hate to say that I was really disappointed in this one, especially when I was so looking forward to it. The characters were flat and not at all well-rounded so there was absolutely no connection made between the reader to the main character (or between the characters to each other), the world-building needed a lot of work, and the author REALLY needs to work on less telling the reader and more showing through her writing. It didn't even seem like a Rapunzel retelling to be honest, which was why I was so intrigued by the plot in the first place. Overall, it was a disappointing read that I skimmed the last half.

Thank you Netgalley and Wednesday Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I almost put this book down so many times throughout it. I found it a bit boring and nothing really happened until the last bit. The cover is so pretty and I was pulled in by it, the title, and the blurb. I also remember it being mentioned a lot on social media- but it just did not live up to the hype for me.

The book is broken into 4 parts and every chapter flips back and forth between the two main characters, Ava and Kaye. The first part was obviously set up for the story, but it was just monotonous and it took a lot to push through it.

It felt like the author almost gave up writing this book. The first half feels like the author wants to do a lot of world building, but it never quite reaches where you would want it to. The world and characters were never really dived into to where I was left wondering why I cared what happened to them. Basically a lot of telling instead of showing and I would have been completely fine if everyone in the entire book had just died at the end.

Once I finally hit the action, I had such a hard time understanding what was happening. I read multiple sections more than once, trying to figure out what the author was saying. Even though this is supposed to be a Rapunzel retelling, the only significance her hair had was that her mother wanted to keep it long and wouldn't let her cut it- that was it. While I understood other parts of the story that did fit in with a Rapunzel story, I feel that her hair is a big part of Rapunzel and I just didn't get that from Ava.

This is my first book from this author and based on this book alone, I don't think I would read another book from them for a bit.

I took my time to read this cause there was some controversy around it. I wasn't sure what was going on, but a lot of people one booktok were having issues with it.
I finished the book in about a day. The writing I feel could use some work, but it wasn't terrible. I think my biggest issue was Ava was around 17 or 18 and she acted like a child. So I did struggle with that a bit.
Other then that the story was alright.
I just wished the ending was a little more dramatic I just felt like it fell flat for me.

The cover and synopsis really reeled me in, but unfortunately, this just didn't work for me. The world-building was just ok and needed a bit of work. I don't want to seem like a broken record, but many of the issues I have with fantasy and paranormal romance writers are telling and not showing. It's definitely a craft that needs to be honed and I can see the potential in Francesca Flores' writing. This was a hindrance when it came to connecting with the main characters.

I spoke about this book on a bookmail/bookhaul video on instagram. 1) the cover is gorgeous and 2) the story is super engaging to me because its dual perspective and I live for those. I would love to see a sequel for this because the main characters were great to me.

I absolutely adore the cover, the concept of this story and some of the elements found between the pages. But unfortunately I found this as a whole to be a bit of a let down. I think that I honestly just had my hopes too high for this sapphic rapunzel retelling, and I found myself almost wishing for more. I think that there were a lot of heavy topics that were dealt with in a very carless manner and it made it so as a reader it was almost hard to keep reading. There was also a lot of telling the reader rather than the reader being able to come to conclusions through descriptions. Overall I had really high hopes for this, and unfortunately was let down by the delivery.

Poorly written poorly edited. Whoever edited this did a disservice to the author cos the amount of info-dumping and telling not showing in the first few pages was too much. Didn't finish the book, but my NetGalley ratio can't hit 100% unless I leave a review for every book sorry!

I have to be honest, I didn’t love this one.

I was sold right away by the description and the cover—I mean, LOOK at that cover. Also, Rapunzel retelling? Sapphic? It sounded so good!

Unfortunately, I didn’t love it. I didn’t think the world-building was that great. There is a lot of info-dumping from the beginning, but it’s not done in a way that enriches the story. It kind of feels robotic—like checking off a list of “things I need to mention.” The magic system isn’t explained very well either, imo.

I didn’t love the main characters, Ava and Kaye. They just fell kind of flat for me. I thought there would be a lot more between them (I mean, they have known each other for a LONG time), but it didn’t feel very developed or well-rounded.

I tried very hard to immerse myself in the book and finish fully reading it, but ended up skimming from 50% on.

I want to thank Wednesday Books and NetGalley for this eARC. Just because it wasn’t for me, doesn’t mean it won’t be for you.

The Witch and the Vampire by Francesca Flores was a lovely slow burn of a book, quite cute, with a really interesting premise. The audiobook was well done too. Definitely recommend.

This was just okay for me. While the plot was intriguing and had a lot of potential, the writing felt very surface level with little description and more of a tell style as opposed to a show style. The relationship didn’t seem believable. I understand that Ava and Kaye were best friends growing up, but I didn’t feel any connection between them to build this relationship from.

The underlying plot was ok. There were some predictable twists, but they made sense in the narrative that Flores was telling. I just wish it had been developed a bit more.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books, and Francesca Flores for an e-arc of The Witch and the Vampire in exchange for an honest review.

I had high hopes going into this book, but unfortunately it just didn't quite meet them. While I was originally intrigued by the setting, it wasn't able to support the parts of the book I just wasn't as into. The biggest issue for me was just not connecting with the main characters, their narration style, and their romance. These 3 things are essentially what make up the book, so when I wasn't able to connect with them, it really hindered my reading experience overall. I found the narration way too repetitive, as the characters constantly repeated the same few angst-ridden thoughts over and over to themselves, especially in the beginning. It made me more annoyed with them at first, rather than sympathetic, and created a lot of distance that the book was never able to then correct.

Overall, this book just wasn't for me. It was hard to choose to pick up this book and continue whenever I'd put it down, and it made me realize that I just wasn't really enjoying my time with the book at all. I do hope this book finds its audience though!

Enjoyed this one, the friends to enemies to lovers really hooked me In. It’s a rapunzel reimagining. It is light in the romance but heavy on the action! I would recommend

No. I'm sorry, no. This was supposed to be a Rapunzel retelling that wasn't really a rapunzel retelling - And I can't get past animal death... Anyone who puts animal death in their books is someone I do not wish to interact with.

A witch and a vampire, what could possibly go wrong?

I wanted to love this book so much since Sapphic fantasy romance based on the retelling of Rapunzel, however it was jus not it. I was not fully enthralled into the book and on top of that the characterization was slightly annoying. I have put it down and picked it back up a few times to see if maybe I was just in a mood when reading it but sadly not.

yeesh. on paper this ought to work, but god, it's just executed terribly. tone was bad, prose was bad, nothing connected

i am so very sorry, but this just was not for me what so ever :( i dnfed at about 25% of the way. i do hope that it is able to reach its target audience and readership, but i am just not that unfortunately.

This book just wasn't really for me. I loved the cover and was excited for a Sapphic, fantasy romance, but it just didn't do it for me. I never connected with the characters and the story was confusing at times. Overall, nothing inherently wrong with the story, it just wasn't really for me.

This was a whirlwind of fantastical creatures, complex characters and a new take on Rapunzel. I absolutely loved this book, and read it as fast as I possibly could. Everything about it was amazing.

I would recommend this to anyone who loves high fantasy, teen or not. The slow burn romance, and tension between all of the characters really made this enjoyable, and didn’t push the story. The worldbuilding was wonderful, and you really got a sense of it from the first few pages. Overall this was an amazing read, and I really hope there is a sequel.

Thank you to NetGalley, Wednesday Books and the author for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.